Egyptian security officials say a senior army officer was killed and another was injured when a cross-border smuggling tunnel with the Gaza Strip collapsed after troops went into it to investigate.

The officials say the tunnel was discovered on Friday in the Egyptian town of Rafah in northern Sinai. One of its entrances was close to the town’s intelligence headquarters while the other was apparently on Gaza’s side of the border, in the Palestinian town of Rafah.

The officials say Lt. Col. Hussam Hamdi Abdel-Aziz was killed in the cave-in and Maj. Ahmed Farouq Mostapha was injured. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations.

Egypt has been trying to clear a buffer zone with Gaza in order to stamp out a cross-border tunnel network operated by Hamas.

JERUSALEM and RAMALLAH — The Israeli government claimed Tuesday Qatar had expelled the leader of the Hamas militant group, in what would be a significant diplomatic victory for Israel. Hamas officials denied the claims as “baseless.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it “welcomes Qatar’s decision to expel the head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, to Turkey.”

The Qatari decision came after heavy diplomatic pressure from Israel.

“We expect the Turkish government to act responsibly in a similar way,” it added.

Hamas officials in both Qatar and the Gaza Strip angrily dismissed the Israeli claims.

Izzat Rishq, a top aide to Mr. Mashaal, said the claim was wrong.

“There is no basis of truth about brother Khaled Mashaal leaving Doha [the Qatari capital]. We are in Doha now,” he said.

‘We expect the Turkish government to act … in a similar way’

Hamas spokesman Hossam Badran in Qatar and Salah Bardawil, a Hamas official in Gaza, also said the report was false.

In the Turkish capital Ankara, the Foreign Ministry said it had no information on a Qatari decision or plans by Mr. Mashaal to relocate to Turkey.

Israel and Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, are bitter enemies. They fought a 50-day war last summer that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza and 72 people on the Israeli side.

If the claim is true, the expulsion would mark a major setback for Hamas.

In recent years, the hardline Islamists have faced growing isolation in the region after disputes with their longtime sponsors, Syria and Iran, and the downfall of the close ally, former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, who was overthrown by the military. Mr. Mashaal moved to Qatar after the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.

Facing diplomatic isolation and deep financial problems, Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, reluctantly agreed last year to the formation of a unity government led by its rival, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. But the group remains in firm control of the seaside territory.

Asked about the Hamas denial, an Israeli official said the government had received “serious and reliable information” from “official channels” that the expulsion order had been granted.

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Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, the official refused to say whether Qatar had delivered the news directly. Israel used to have a diplomatic office in Qatar and still maintains low-level relations with the country.

There was no immediate comment from Qatar, a wealthy Persian Gulf state that has allowed Mr. Mashaal to set up a base there.

Under a deal reached with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia late last year, Qatar agreed to a number of foreign policy directives that are largely believed to be related to its support of Islamist groups throughout the region. The details of the Gulf reconciliation agreement have not been made public.

Some Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members were forced to leave Qatar last year after the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Doha. The three Gulf countries had accused Qatar of interfering in their domestic affairs and of failing to uphold a security pact. The diplomats were reinstated after a deal was reached in November.

The following month Al Jazeera’s live channel dedicated to coverage of Egypt was shut down. Egypt had accused the Qatar-based and -funded pan-Arab news network of bias against the new government and of supporting the Brotherhood. The network has denied the charges and demanded Egypt free three journalists imprisoned there from its English-language channel.

RAWABI, WEST BANK — Trust me on this: Reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis will not be achieved any time soon no matter what the professional peace processors say or do. But here in Rawabi, modest progress toward that goal is at least possible to imagine.

A $1-billion planned city under construction in the rugged hills of the West Bank 15 miles north of Jerusalem, Rawabi is the “largest private-sector undertaking in Palestinian history.” It is to offer homes, high-tech jobs in a thoroughly modern business district, shopping, entertainment and recreational facilities — including an enormous Roman-style amphitheater — for up to 40,000 upwardly mobile Palestinians.

But the most important reason to see Rawabi as a hopeful place is this: Its success depends on peaceful coexistence — not to be confused with a peace agreement — between Palestinians and Israelis.

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The brains behind Rawabi is Bashar Masri, a visionary Palestinian-American entrepreneur. In Mr. Masri’s eyes, I think it’s fair to infer, being pro-Palestinian does not mean favouring the use of Palestinians as cannon fodder in a jihad to exterminate the Jewish state. But the money behind Rawabi is mostly Qatari, and the ruling royal family of Qatar is a major funder of Hamas which, as recently as this summer, was turning Palestinians in Gaza into cannon fodder in a jihad to exterminate the Jewish state.

Of course, the West Bank is not ruled by Hamas. It is ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) which is dominated by Fatah, a political faction headed by Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas and Fatah are rivals who periodically attempt to be partners.

In 2005, Israelis withdrew from Gaza — every soldier, every settler. Two years later, Hamas launched a civil war there. Its tactics, including throwing Fatah members from rooftops, proved successful. It then began using the territory to fire missiles at Israeli villages. Israelis responded by instituting a military blockade: Food, medicine, building materials — all that and more continued to flow into Gaza but Israelis attempted, not entirely successfully, to prevent Iranian missiles and other weapons from getting into Hamas’ hands.

The war this summer left Hamas militarily weakened. But polls show it continues to enjoy popularity in Gaza and, even more, in the West Bank

On that basis, Palestinians have claimed that Israel continues to “occupy” Gaza. The “occupation” is used to justify more attacks on Israel such as those by Hamas this summer. This is circular reasoning, but the so-called international community claims not to see it.

It is Hamas’ practice to fire missiles from densely populated areas, to store weapons in schools and use hospitals as military headquarters. This clearly contravenes international law. It also guarantees civilian casualties and extensive property damage. The international community responds with outrage — at Israel. The international community does not seem to understand that it is encouraging Hamas to use this tactic again and again. Or maybe it does: Bad PR for Israelis vs. death, poverty and depravation for Palestinians seems a fair tradeoff to many who call themselves pro-Palestinian.

The war this summer left Hamas militarily weakened. But polls show it continues to enjoy popularity in Gaza and, even more, in the West Bank where mosques, media and schools have long been telling people to value “resistance” to Israel above all else. If elections were held tomorrow and Mr. Abbas were to run against a senior Hamas leader such as Ismail Haniyeh, Mr. Abbas would almost certainly lose.

Not that Hamas has any interest in democratic procedures. The Palestinian Legislative Council, which is dominated by Hamas and sits in Gaza, was elected to a single four-year term in 2006. Its members have not bothered to face voters a second time. As for Mr. Abbas, he was elected in 2005 which means he is now in the 10th year of a four-year term.

A few months ago, Israeli intelligence agents in the West Bank discovered that Hamas was plotting a coup against Mr. Abbas. The Israeli military in the West Bank, the “occupation forces” there, arrested dozens of Hamas members. All this has been acknowledged by Mr. Abbas. Nevertheless, he and other Fatah officials continue to insist that Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank — and of Gaza — is the only serious impediment to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The international community goes along.

Rawabi is a risky venture, but it deserves support — not least from Israelis.

Were Hamas to take over the West Bank, it would be only a matter of time before its fighters clashed with Israelis. Because Rawabi is a city on a hill, it would be a good spot from which to fire missiles at Israel’s major population centres and its international airport. Assuming Israelis returned fire, a billion dollars and years of hard work would within days be reduced to rubble.

Hamas would call that a victory. Just after this summer’s war, Mr. Haniyeh posed for an iconic photo in front of his Gaza home — or rather the debris that had been his home. He holds up two fingers in a V sign — for victory, one assumes, certainly not for peace.

For these and other reasons, Rawabi is a risky venture. But for the same reasons, it deserves support — not least from Israelis. According to Mr. Masri such support has not been forthcoming. For example, Israeli authorities have delayed approval for a main water supply connection. That has pushed back the “move-in” date for the first residents which, in turn, has caused serious cash-flow problems.

As for the Palestinian Authority, recipient of a river of foreign aid, five years ago it agreed to provide $150-million for the building of Rawabi’s schools, a police station and other public amenities. To date, Mr. Masri said, not a dime has arrived.

As noted, the Palestinian-Israel conflict is not about to end any time soon. But surely those who would like to see it resolved eventually ought to be backing Rawabi to the hilt.

Washington Times

Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. Find him on Twitter at Twitter.com/CliffordDMay

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/10/clifford-d-may-pro-palestinian-support-this-new-west-bank-city/feed/0stdrawabiClifford D. May: How the Jewish state is being demonizedhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/30/clifford-d-may-how-the-jewish-state-is-being-demonized/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/30/clifford-d-may-how-the-jewish-state-is-being-demonized/#commentsThu, 30 Oct 2014 11:13:45 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=167017

Last week, a terrorist drove his car into a crowd at a light rail station in Jerusalem, killing a three-month-old baby. Eight others were injured, including a 22-year-old woman who died a few days later. The attacker fled the scene pursued by police who shot and killed him.

Terrorists also have struck in Ottawa and New York in recent days. So Israelis are not alone. But many feel alone — perceiving that an increasing number of Europeans and Americans see them not as a tiny nation on the front lines in a global conflict against jihadism, but as bullies culpable for the war being waged against them.

The first AP report on the terrorist attack bolstered that impression. It carried the headline: “Israeli police shoot man in east Jerusalem.” A little later, that was changed to “Car slams into east Jerusalem train station.” Finally, following protests on social media, the headline became: “Palestinian kills baby at Jerusalem station.”

There also was this: The Fatah movement, led by “moderate” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called the vehicular terrorist a “heroic martyr” who had “executed the Jerusalem operation which led to the running over of settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem.” If that evoked outrage in any Western capitals, I missed it.

Intellectuals of the Left, academics, the UN, human rights organizations, some mainstream Protestant churches and the media have grown not just unsympathetic but, in many cases, hostile toward Israel and Israelis

Joshua Muravchik, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced Studies, has been studying the growth of anti-Israelism. He presents his analysis in a cogent and valuable book: Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel.

Start with the good news if for no other reason than there’s not much of it: Polls show a clear majority of Americans continue to support Israel, continue to believe the Jewish state has a right to exist and to defend itself.

But over the last few decades, intellectuals of the Left, academics, the UN, human rights organizations, some mainstream Protestant churches and the media have grown not just unsympathetic but, in many cases, hostile toward Israel and Israelis. At the same time, they have been indulgent of Israel’s enemies, Islamist terrorists included.

An article over the weekend in the International Herald Tribune noted that “Britain’s center-left Labour Party often sympathizes instinctively with the Palestinian cause.” Hamas — which claimed responsibility for the murders of the woman and child in Jerusalem last week — defines the Palestinian cause as the extermination of Israel and the murder of Jews. (It’s in the Hamas Charter. Look it up.)

If Britain’s Labour Party sympathizes with that, it is probably a learned, not instinctive, response. Muravchik notes that as recently as the 1960s, Israel was almost universally admired. Leon Uris’ Exodus shaped the prevailing narrative, one which saw “the founding of the Jewish state as a story of heroism, sacrifice and redemption … both just and necessary.”

Muravchik recounts how, in May 1967, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser sent his troops into the Sinai, closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping (an act of war) and vowed that Egypt, joined by other Arab armies, would “destroy Israel … This is Arab power. This is the true resurrection of the Arab nation.”

Opinion in the West, popular and elite alike, came down firmly in support of the Jewish state. “As the crisis deepened,” Muravchik writes, “a luminous group of intellectuals,” including thousands of academics, called upon the U.S. government to help Israelis defend themselves.

This summer, as Hamas fired thousands of missiles at Israel, anger was directed at Israel

When the fighting concluded, Israel had prevailed, taking Gaza from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan. U.S. Sen. George McGovern, who would become the Democratic Party’s “peace candidate” in 1972, said he hoped Israel would “not give up a foot of ground” until the Arabs made peace.

This summer, by stark contrast, as Hamas fired thousands of missiles at Israel, anger was directed at Israel. The media focused almost exclusively on Palestinian victims — even though the Israeli Defense Forces did more than any army in history ever has to protect non-combatants, many of whom Hamas used as human shields.

How did this change come about? After the 1967 war, Israel’s enemies and critics stopped talking about an Arab-Israeli conflict. It became a Palestinian-Israeli conflict instead.

The new David was supported by the diplomatic, political and economic clout of 22 Arab states, oil giants among them, as well as more than 50 nations that self-identify as Islamic.

Another significant factor has been what Muravchik calls “the transformation of the paradigm of Leftism from class struggle to ethnic struggle.” More than half of all Israeli Jews come from families who for centuries made their homes in Muslim lands. In the 1940s and 1950s, most of them were forced to flee. Nevertheless, the narrative shaped by the Left is of oppressed third world Palestinians rising against colonialist European usurpers.

Views prevalent on the Left have a tendency to “seep, albeit in diluted form, into the mainstream,” Muravchik adds. And the “anti-Israel camp does not need to win America fully to its side. Merely to neutralize it would radically alter the balance of power and put Israel in great jeopardy.” Muravchik doesn’t rule out the possibility that, should this process continue, should “Israel’s enemies succeed, the result could be a second Holocaust.”

I was looking forward to Muravchik’s thoughts on efforts to counter the rise of anti-Israelism (and the anti-Semitism now inextricably attached to it), why such efforts have fallen short, and what else might be considered by those who are anti-anti-Israeli – or even just anti-genocide. But he didn’t provide that. Perhaps he will tackle the subject in his next book. Or maybe he is leaving the task to writers of a less scholarly and more activist bent. Either way, he has made a persuasive case that such thinking is urgently needed.

The Washington Times

Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.

An Israeli hospital says it has treated the daughter of Hamas’ top leader in the Gaza Strip weeks after a brutal war between Israel and the Islamic militant group.

Avi Shushan, a spokesman for Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, said the daughter of Ismail Haniyeh was hospitalized for “a number of days” this month. He did not disclose what she was treated for. Ismail Haniyeh is the prime minister of Gaza’s Hamas government.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military confirmed the hospital stay. She spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release the information otherwise. Hamas officials were not immediately available for comment.

Israel and Hamas fought a fierce 50-day war this summer that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 72 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

Donors at an international conference Sunday promised $2.7 billion to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, but all of the key participants said their efforts would be futile without a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

U.S.-mediated talks broke down this summer before the 50-day war between Hamas and Israel began – the third since 2008 – and it remains unclear how peace can come about.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, who co-chaired the one-day meeting with Egypt, said pledges of $5.4 billion have been made, but that only half of that money would be “dedicated” to the reconstruction of the coastal strip.

Brende did not say what the other half of the funds would be spent on. Other delegates have spoken of budgetary support, boosting economic activity, emergency relief and other projects.

“The message was clear to the international community that the Palestinian brothers are not alone,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a news conference after the meeting.

Qatar offered the biggest donation of $1 billion – once again using its vast wealth to reinforce its role as a regional player. The United Arab Emirates – a Gulf Arab rival of Qatar – promised $200 million.

The pledges followed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement of immediate American assistance of $212 million. The European Union pledged $568 million, while Turkey, which has been playing a growing regional role, said it was donating $200 million.

“While the Palestinian people need financial support, they need more political support from the international community,” he said. “A just peace is the only real guarantee for not destroying what we are about to rebuild and reconstruct.”

Delegates representing about 50 nations and 20 regional and international organizations applauded the pledge by Qatar. The Emirates and Saudi Arabia, however, allege that Qatar is using its wealth to undermine regional stability, primarily through meddling in other nations’ affairs and aiding militant Islamic groups.

Conference organizers hope the pledges will be paid over a three-year period to aid reconstruction in Gaza, which borders Israel and Egypt. Both countries have blockaded Gaza since Hamas took power there in 2007, causing the territory of 1.8 million people economic hardship and high unemployment.

Donors plan to funnel the aid through Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, bypassing Hamas. Abbas and Hamas recently formed a national unity government, and its deputy prime minister, Mohammed Mustafa, acknowledged there would difficulties for the funds to arrive quickly and be appropriated.

The Western-backed Abbas told the delegates that the latest Gaza war caused “tragedies that are difficult to be described by words. … Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble.”

He said the Palestinian government “will carry out the reconstruction plan with full responsibility and transparency in coordination with the U.N., the donors, international financial institutions, civil society and the private sector.”

Leading participants said Gaza’s reconstruction cannot be done in isolation from efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on a lasting settlement.

“We must not lose sight of the root causes of the recent hostilities: A restrictive occupation that has lasted almost half a century, the continued denial of Palestinian rights and the lack of tangible progress in peace negotiations,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who later announced he would visit Gaza on Tuesday.

“I call on all parties to come together to chart a clear course toward a just and final peace,” Ban said. “Going back to the status quo is not an option; this is the moment for transformational change.”

The latest conflict in Gaza was the most ruinous of the three wars, killing more than 2,000 Palestinians – mostly civilians, the U.N. said. Another 11,000 were wounded, and some 100,000 people are homeless.

Kerry told delegates that Gazans “need our help desperately – not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now.” He said the new U.S. money, which nearly doubles American aid to the Palestinians this year, would go to security, economic development, food and medicine, and shelter, water and sanitation projects.

He later stressed at a news conference the need to move beyond aid by addressing the underlying causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKIU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gives a press conference as part of the Gaza Donor Conference in Cairo on October 12, 2014.

“Israel clearly has a right to be deeply concerned about rockets and tunnels, and security of its citizens,” he said. “And Palestinians have a right to be concerned about day-to-day life and their rights and their future aspirations to have a state.”

Kerry mediated the failed peace negotiations earlier this year. He said the talks had made “significant progress” in some areas and left everyone with a clear picture of what both sides need for a peace agreement.

“We are going to continue to push,” Kerry said without elaborating.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, whose government negotiated the cease-fire that ended the war, said the reconstruction effort hinged on a “permanent calm” between Hamas and Israel, and required the exercise of “full authority” by the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas.

Cairo’s relations with Hamas have been tense since Egypt’s military ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 and threw its weight behind Abbas.

El-Sissi said the conference sent a message that “the status quo must not continue, cannot be returned to, and that any attempt to bring about temporary stability will not last long.”

“I tell the Israelis, both citizens and government: The time has come to end the conflict without further delay, to grant rights and establish justice so that prosperity and security can prevail,” he said.

Abbas used the conference to warn that the failure to reach a peace deal posed a threat to regional stability.

“Israel’s aggression on the Gaza Strip exposed the fragility and dangerous nature of the situation in our region in the absence of a just peace,” Abbas said. He urged the international community to support his bid to get the U.N. Security Council to dictate the ground rules for any future talks with Israel, including a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

EU negotiator Catherine Ashton appeared to back the arguments of Ban, Abbas and el-Sissi.

“I want to stress one more time that the solution for Gaza cannot be found in Gaza alone,” she said. “Only a credible resumption of the peace negotiations can allow for a durable solution to the current crisis.

“This must be the last time in which the international community is called upon to rebuild Gaza,” she added.

Abba Eban, Israel’s legendary representative to the United Nations, once famously remarked that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proved Eban’s point recently, in an incendiary speech to the UN General Assembly, in which he accused Israel of “a new war of genocide” against the Palestinian people.

Another opportunity squandered. During the Gaza War this summer, Abbas had positioned himself as a picture of moderation. When Hamas was accused of having kidnapped the three teenagers whose abduction set off this summer’s violence, Abbas condemned the kidnapping in no uncertain terms. As the war with Hamas dragged on, the Palestinian Authority was party to the cease-fire negotiations. When Israel and Egypt hammered out the details of who would monitor border crossings and the use of construction material in Gaza to prevent the construction of new tunnels, even Hamas accepted the notion of Palestinian Authority monitors.

Israelis are not terribly inclined to make grand gestures for peace right now — the region is in too much turmoil for anyone to know what a smart move would be. Yet many Israelis also know that international pressure for some accommodation of Palestinian national aspirations will only grow. Prominent Israeli public intellectuals continue to worry about the corrosive effect of keeping millions of Palestinians under our military thumb on our national moral well-being. So suddenly, Israelis had begun to wonder whether Abbas might be the guy with whom to make the deal.

Why, therefore, would Abbas do something as seemingly stupid, alienating almost every Israeli, and even evoking a highly critical reaction from the Obama administration? While the move was, in fact, a mistake, it was a calculated one.

Abbas decided that for now, he needed to play to his street. Sadly, the Palestinian Authority has never prepared its citizens for the compromises a deal will require. Abbas knows that Israel is here to stay, but his accusation that Israel was engaging in “genocidal warfare against the Palestinian people” reeked of utter delegitimization. Abbas knows that Israel will never agree to the return of anything more than a token number of Palestinian refugees to Israel, for that would undermine Israel’s Jewish demographic majority, forcing Israel to choose between being democratic or Jewish, neither of which is negotiable. But he continues to promise that the refugees will return.

The Arab street is more radical than its government in many places. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but Egyptian TV continues to broadcast highly inflammatory anti-Semitic programming, creating a sense among Egyptians — which continues to this day — that the agreement is an oddity or an anomaly, at best. Jordan’s King Abdullah II may be modern in his appearance and moderate in his lexicon, but his street is no less radicalized. And the same is true of the Palestinian street, which just honoured the murderers of the three Israelis teenagers.

Pandering to his street’s basest instincts, Abbas proved that he cannot lead. Whatever the opposite of leadership is, is precisely what Abbas did at the UN.

In so doing, he reminded even left-wing Israelis why the centre and the right want nothing to do with him. In so doing, he reminded Israelis who might have been willing to overlook it, that he was an avid promoter of the unity government with Hamas. In so doing, he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suggest, in his response at the UN, that Israel would seek alliances with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In so doing, therefore, Abbas slammed the door on the possibility of any negotiated deal with Israel in the near future.

Israelis are nervous about the shifting sands all around them, but most understand that just as Israel is going nowhere, so too the Palestinians are here to stay. Just as Israelis had national aspirations some 70 years ago and would not relent until they were realized, so too with the Palestinians. The difference is that Israelis have often been led by people who were willing to change their positions. Menachem Begin, sought by the British as Terrorist No. 1, made peace with Egypt and returned the Sinai Peninsula — even though he had to battle his own cabinet to get the deal approved. Ariel Sharon, the controversial military leader of Unit 101, pulled Israel out of Gaza, despite the move’s unpopularity. Netanyahu, who used to reject the mere idea of a Palestinian state, has now openly accepted it — much to the chagrin of some of his party’s leadership.

But as Abbas reminded us during his UN speech, there has been no similar movement on the Palestinian side. There are many reasons the Palestinians do not have a state, but chief among them is that the Palestinians have never had a genuine leader. They have figureheads, fearful of leading and unwilling to goad their citizens into thinking differently about Israel, refugees and their own future. So, they watch and wait, as those who call themselves leaders make mistake after mistake, consigning Palestinians to a life that sadly, once again, seems unlikely to change.

Bloomberg News

Daniel Gordis is senior vice president and Koret distinguished fellow at Shalem College in Jersualem. He is the author of Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel’s Soul and The Promise of Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, praised Canada Tuesday for sending special forces to Iraq to fight the jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq & Al-Sham, telling a Canadian interviewer of the need to stamp out the “poison trees” of jihadist Islam.

The interview came only hours after Israeli forces shot down a Syrian fighter jet that had strayed into the country’s airspace, marking the first time since 1982 Israel has destroyed a Syrian military aircraft.

Mr. Netanyahu said the jet’s infiltration “may have been accidental,” but asserted Israel “can’t take the risk” of an armed foreign aircraft over its cities.

“We can’t have the aircraft moving towards Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or Haifa; we just [had to] bring it down,” he said.

Tuesday also saw a wave of U.S.-led air strikes on ISIS targets in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Mr. Netanyahu said he applauded U.S. and Canadian efforts to battle a “common enemy” that is “threatening everyone.” He also drew parallels between the world’s growing anti-ISIS coalition and Israel’s own efforts to fight Hamas.

“Hamas is ISIS. ISIS is Hamas,” the Israeli prime minister said.

“They have different minutiae of theological differences of ethnic origin. Who cares? They are part and parcel of the same militant Islamic scourge.”

Last month, marked the end of a 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Islamists in Gaza that saw thousands of rockets fired into Israeli territory and the deaths of more than 2,000 Palestinians in Israeli military strikes.

Among the leaders of Group of Seven nations, Stephen Harper, the prime minister, was the most unequivocal in his support for Israel during the conflict. Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu called Mr. Harper a “clear-eyed leader and a very principled and moral leader” and expressed his “thanks” and “gratitude” to Canada.

At a time when foreign policy experts in Europe and the United States are urging an anti-ISIS alliance among Iran, Syria and Western nations, Mr. Netanyahu staunchly maintained Iran and Syria should remain diplomatically isolated.

“My strategy is don’t strengthen one or the other — weaken both,” he said, adding there is no need to “reward” Iran and Syria for fighting ISIS because they are “doing it anyway.”

“If [Syrian dictator Bashar al-]Assad [said], ‘Now, well let me have my chemical weapons back because I’m fighting ISIS,’ we would all snort in laughter because he’s doing it anyway,” said Mr. Netanyahu.

Barack Obama, the U.S. president, has been careful to emphasize air strikes against ISIS would not be a precursor to sending U.S. combat troops to fight another Middle Eastern war.

But Mr. Netanyahu left open the possibility the fight against ISIS could pull in ground troops, arguing it would be worth the cost.

“I’m concerned about what would happen if this danger is NOT confronted because it would grow and grow and grow and this is what we fear,” he said.

JERUSALEM — Israeli special forces stormed a West Bank hideout early on Tuesday and killed two Palestinians suspected in the June abduction and slaying of three Israeli teenagers, a gruesome attack that had triggered a chain of events that led to the war in Gaza this summer.

The deaths of the two suspects, identified by the Israeli military as well-known Hamas militants, ended one of the largest manhunts conducted by the Israeli security forces.

Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, were abducted on June 12 while hitchhiking home in the West Bank and killed soon afterward.

HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty ImagesTroops killed two Palestinians that Israel had named as suspects in the June murder of three Israeli teenagers Wednesday.

The teens’ abduction and slaying prompted a large Israeli crackdown on the Islamic militant Hamas group and set off a chain of events that led to a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In an operation codenamed “Brother’s Keeper,” Israel dispatched thousands of troops across the West Bank in search of the youths, closed roads in the Hebron area and arrested hundreds of Hamas operatives throughout the territory.

The search ended July 1, when the bodies were found under a pile of rocks in a field north of the West Bank city of Hebron. Officials later said it was believed the three had been killed shortly after the abduction.

Israeli forces had been pursuing the suspects, Amer Abu Aisheh and Marwan Qawasmeh, since the abductions, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman.

HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinian demonstrators hurl rocks at Israeli security forces at the site of the operation.

Lerner told reporters that there was a recent breakthrough in the search that led the Yamam, a special police counter- terrorism unit, to the hideout in an area of Hebron about a week ago.

Early on Tuesday, the Israeli special forces entered the ground floor of the two-story building and killed two Hamas operatives after coming under fire, Lerner said.

The military believes both men were killed, though troops confirmed the killing of only one suspect. Lerner said the second suspect fell backward in a hail of fire and is presumed dead, though the body has not yet been recovered.

Ilia Yefimovich/Getty ImagesPeople mourn July 1 by the graves during the funeral ceremony held for the three Israeli teenagers.

Lerner noted the two men had been identified as the suspects early in the search, their Hamas connections were well known, and Hamas has repeatedly tried to abduct Israeli civilians and soldiers. Another three members of one the Qawasmeh family were arrested, he said.

“We were determined in bringing the ruthless murderers of Gilad, Eyal and Naftali to justice,” Lerner said. “Today’s successful mission brings the long-term search to an end, and the perpetrators of the crime no longer pose a threat to Israeli civilians,” he said.

In Qatar, Hussam Badran, a spokesman for top Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, praised the two militants on his Twitter account. “The martyrdom of Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh came after a long life full of jihad sacrifice and giving. This is the path of resistance, which we all are moving in,” he said.

Hamas denied involvement for weeks after the teens were abducted. However, during the Israel-Hamas war, an exiled Hamas leader responsible for West Bank operations acknowledged his group had been responsible for the abduction and killing of the teenagers.

In the days leading up to the start of the Gaza war in early July, a Palestinian youth was also abducted and killed in east Jerusalem by Israeli extremists in an apparent revenge attack over the teens’ slaying.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/23/israeli-special-forces-kill-two-men-suspected-in-teens-gruesome-murders/feed/3stdPalestinian civil defence members gather at a site where an Israeli security services operation left two Palestinians dead in the West Bank town of Hebron on Wednesday.AP Photo/Israel Defence ForcesHAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty ImagesHAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty ImagesIlia Yefimovich/Getty ImagesWidow of executed Gaza spy reveals how Israel convinces desperate Palestinians to betray Hamashttp://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/17/widow-of-executed-gaza-spy-reveals-how-israel-convinces-desperate-palestinians-to-betray-hamas/
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The 48-year-old Palestinian woman’s husband was shot to death in 2012 by militants in the Gaza Strip for spying for Israel. A mother of seven, she herself was jailed by Gaza’s Hamas rulers for aiding and abetting a spy — her husband.

The widow’s account to The Associated Press gave a rare look into the secret espionage side of the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group.

According to her, Israeli security agents took advantage of her late husband’s financial troubles a decade ago, luring him into collaborating by offering him a permit to work in Israel. She was later recruited when she was allowed to take one of their children to Israel for medical treatment.

“Our life was hell. We were scared,” she said of their years feeding Israel information. “I used to look over my shoulder when I am out in the market, get scared when I see a police car.” The woman, who was released in December, spoke on condition of anonymity because Hamas does not allow freed collaborators to talk to the press.

AP Photo, FileIn this Tuesday Oct. 18, 2005 file photo released by the previously unknown Palestinian armed militia called "Fursan Alsafa" (Knights of the Storm), shows what they claim are members of their group guarding two Palestinian men on their knees whom they accuse of being collaborators with Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. Hamas views collaborators in Gaza as a serious threat, holding them responsible for the assassination by Israel over the years of dozens of its top political leaders and military commanders.

Israel has historically relied on collaborators against Palestinian militants and activists, recruiting them with methods ranging from entrapment and blackmail to cash and perks. Hamas, in turn, has done whatever it can to stop collaborators — particularly by killing them in public as a deterrent to others — since it holds them responsible for helping Israel assassinate dozens of its top figures.

The issue emerged again with the latest round of fighting in Gaza, which ended late last month. During the war, militants gunned down 22 suspected spies, almost all of them on a single day after three senior Hamas military operatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike apparently guided by collaborators.

“It was a terrifying message to society and a deterrent to other collaborators,” Salah Abdel-Atti of Gaza’s Independent Commission for Human Rights said.

But rights concerns win little sympathy among Palestinians, who widely see informing for Israel as unforgivable treason — even among Gazans opposed to Hamas’ iron fisted control of the territory since 2007.

Ramiz Abu Jazar, a Gazan whose brother was killed by Hamas in intra-Palestinian fighting in 2007, said he’s all for killing collaborators. They are “like cancer in society,” he told the AP. “They sold their souls to the devil.”

ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty ImagesA picture taken in 2006 shows Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder, speaking during a rally for the movement in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

There have been instances of Palestinians collaborating out of political conviction. Most embarrassing to Hamas, the son of the group’s co-founder Sheik Hassan Youssef spied for Israel between 1997 and 2007, dubbed “the Green Prince.” Now in the U.S., Mosab Yousef later wrote that he did so in part out of revulsion at Hamas’ actions.

But the large majority of collaborators are believed to do so because of blackmail or financial gain.

“Everything starts and ends with money,” said an operative from Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, which runs Palestinian informants. Many are recruited at Erez, Israel’s border crossing with Gaza, when they seek an entry permit, said the operative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the issue with the media.

On the Gaza side of Erez, a large sign put up by Hamas warns travelers against being recruited by Israelis.

It was a terrifying message to society and a deterrent to other collaborators

An AP reporter this week witnessed firsthand how the Israeli military uses access to Israel through Erez to get information from Palestinians.

On the Israel side outside the crossing terminal, a Palestinian businessman who had just entered from Gaza sat waiting for his brother, who was crossing with him but was held up by border officials inside the terminal.

A uniformed army lieutenant speaking Arabic approached the man and promised to help his brother, but first asked him dozens of questions about life in Gaza, from the number of factories damaged in the latest war, to the mood on the streets and power supply. The questioning — casual in tone — lasted about 15 minutes, and the man answered with little hesitation.

In the end, the officer insisted on taking the man’s mobile phone number. The brother emerged soon after.

STR / AFP / Getty ImagesArmed Palestinian masked militants push back a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in Gaza City after Friday prayers, before executing 18 people for allegedly helping Israel in its six-week assault on the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas’ Interior Ministry, which is in charge of security, says it has executed 12 collaborators since 2007 after closed-door trials.

Rights groups say another 53 alleged collaborators were gunned down by Hamas militants in that same period. Often, they were dragged out of prisons where they had been detained on suspicion of spying and were shot.

The husband of the widow who spoke to the AP was recruited around a decade ago, when Israel still directly controlled Gaza before its withdrawal from the tiny Mediterranean coastal territory in 2005.

The man once worked in Israel as a garbage collector, at a time when thousands of Gazans were allowed to enter Israel daily for work. But his permit was revoked because of his involvement in a car theft, his wife said.

I am not hurting anyone. I just give them a phone number, a name or information on a tunnel

His wife began making frequent trips to neighbouring Egypt to buy goods to sell in Gaza. When he tried to do the same, Israeli security agents stopped him on the Gaza side of the border. They offered him his Israel work permit back in exchange for collaboration, the wife told the AP.

Later, his wife grew suspicious because he was frequently going up on the roof of their house to make phone calls. When she confronted him, he confessed and told her, “I am not hurting anyone. I just give them a phone number, a name or information on a tunnel.”

She did not join her husband in collaborating until 2008, when she was allowed to accompany one of their children being treated at an Israeli hospital. She was asked to go to the hospital’s security office, and there an Israeli gave her money to buy presents for herself and her children.

A few days later, he gave her $14,000 along with instructions to leave the cash in various drop points around Gaza to pay other informants. “We left money under rocks, in garbage bins and by walls,” she said.

STR / AFP / Getty ImagesArmed Palestinian masked militants push back a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in Gaza City after prayers on Friday, before executing 18 people for allegedly helping Israel in its six-week assault on the Palestinian enclave. Six of them were grabbed from among hundreds of worshippers leaving the city's largest mosque, by men in the uniform of Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, witnesses told AFP.

Shortly before their arrest in 2011, she said, the husband received a call from the Israelis, who described a car to him and asked him to head immediately to the main road outside his home and wait for it. When he saw the car, he called the Israelis and reported that two people were in it.

More than an hour later, she said, the Israelis bombed the car, killing its occupants — apparently militants.

During the last round of Israel-Hamas fighting in 2012, several senior Hamas figures were killed in an airstrike, and the husband and five other alleged collaborators were pulled from prison by masked men and shot to death at a Gaza intersection. The body of at least one of the six was also dragged in the street by a motorcycle, though it’s not known if it was that of the husband.

The widow was convicted in a Hamas court and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was pardoned in December to look after her children.

Now she struggles to raise her children with little money. She did not speak of being harassed because of her conviction, but said: “the neighbours give me insincere smiles, but I know what they are thinking of us.”

She reflected little about the rights or wrongs of working with Israel — showing a mix of denial, a desire to defend her husband’s reputation and a relief that the fear of those years was over.

“My husband was a kind man,” she insisted. “He would never hurt anyone.”

Splits emerged at the top of Hamas Thursday after its deputy leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, called for direct talks with the Israeli government, signalling a dramatic shift in policy for the Islamist group.

In a pre-recorded interview with Palestinian Al-Quds television channel, due to be broadcast last night, Mr. Abu Marzouk said Hamas could enter direct negotiations with Israel due to a shift in popular opinion in Gaza.

“Hamas will be willing to talk directly with the Israelis over issues, including Gaza border crossings and prisoner releases,” he said. “Just as you negotiate with weapons you can also negotiate with talk.” A statement refuting his comments was issued yesterday by Hamas’s press office.

“Direct negotiation with the Zionist enemy is not part of the movement’s policy, and it is not even under consideration,” the statement said.

A move to work directly with Israel would be significant for Hamas as its constitution, written in 1988, states that there is no solution to the Palestinian problem except through jihad. Hamas has consistently refused to acknowledge the Jewish state.

“I believe that if things continue as they are now, Hamas may not have a choice,” said Mr. Abu Marzouk. “I say this in all honesty, [negotiations] have become a quasi-popular demand at the moment among all people in the Gaza Strip. Hamas may find itself forced to adopt this policy.”

Israel has consistently said it would not talk directly with Hamas until the Islamic militant group recognized its right to exist and renounced violence.

A group of Al-Qaeda-backed rebels has released 45 UN peacekeepers it took hostage in Syria two weeks ago at the Golan Heights border crossing with Israel.

The peacekeepers, from Fiji, were held by the Nusra Front.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/12/hamas-deputy-leader-calls-for-direct-talks-with-israel-but-group-denies-plan-to-negotiate-with-zionist-enemy/feed/1stdPALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-GAZA-CONFLICT-POLITICSIsraeli military launches criminal investigation into killing of Palestinian children and bombing of UN school during Gaza warhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/11/israeli-military-launches-criminal-investigation-into-killing-of-palestinian-children-and-bombing-of-u-n-school-during-gaza-war/
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JERUSALEM — The Israeli military announced Wednesday that it has launched criminal investigations into two incidents that caused Palestinian civilian casualties during the country’s recent military operation in the Gaza Strip, including the high-profile killing of four children playing soccer on a beach.

According to a statement released by the army, that was one of 12 “exceptional” incidents that have been probed by a team of high-ranking officers, none of whom were part of the chain of command during the recent war. The military said it had also opened a criminal investigation into a mortar attack that killed at least 14 people at a school run by the United Nations in Beit Hanoun that was sheltering Palestinians during the war.

Israel’s announcement came after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat that the agency was mulling an investigation into attacks on its facilities and reports that Palestinian militants used the locations to store weapons. That probe would be separate from one underway by the UN Human Rights Council, which is investigating possible war crimes by Israel during the fighting in Gaza, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians.

On Thursday, a leading international rights group alleged that Israel committed war crimes during this summer’s Gaza war, saying it reached that conclusion after investigating three attacks on or near United Nations-run schools housing displaced Palestinians.

Human Rights Watch said it investigated the strikes at the schools in three separate locations in the war-battered Gaza Strip, attacks in which at least 45 people were killed.

According to its investigation, based on field research and interviews with witnesses, the New York-based group said no military targets were apparent in the area of the schools and that some of the attacks were indiscriminate.

“The Israeli military carried out attacks on or near three well-marked schools where it knew hundreds of people were taking shelter, killing and wounding scores of civilians,” Fred Abrahams, special adviser at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Israel has offered no convincing explanation for these attacks on schools where people had gone for protection and the resulting carnage.”

Hatem Ali / Associated PressIn this Aug. 3 file photo, men inspect dead and wounded Palestinians outside a U.N.-run school in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said on Wednesday it has opened criminal investigations into two high-profile cases involving Palestinian civilian casualties in this summer's Gaza war, in an apparent attempt to head off international investigations into its conduct.

Israel argues that the heavy civilian death toll during the 50-day summer war was Hamas’ fault, accusing the Islamic militant group of launching rockets — and drawing retaliation — from school yards, residential areas and mosques.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the army’s fact-finding assessment team has received 44 complaints based on information from human rights organizations, the media and army commanders. He said that in addition to the two cases to be investigated by military police, seven had been closed and three were still pending a decision by the Military Advocate General.

In addition to the killings on the beach and the strike at the Beit Hanoun school, other incidents still being examined include the killing of a woman in Dhaniyeh, who had coordinated her movements with the army; the Israeli military’s alleged use of a Palestinian youth to catch a wanted militant; and the looting of Palestinian homes by Israeli soldiers.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which manages many UN facilities in Gaza, said he knew little about the Israeli probe and that UNRWA had not been formally notified.

Bill van Esveld, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, called the opening of criminal probes a “positive step.”

“However, we just hope it will result in a real credible investigation,” he said. “We have a lot of concerns because the record of internal Israeli army investigations has shown they do not take real accountability for their actions.”

In a report published this week on the Israeli army’s internal investigations of offences against Palestinians, two Israeli human rights organizations concluded that the military law enforcement system is “a complete failure.”

“Years of research and monitoring of the military law enforcement system have proven that the mechanisms in place cannot carry out effective investigations as a matter of course, not to mention during wartime,” said Neta Patrick, executive director of Yesh Din, which wrote the report along with the organization B’Tselem.

“Carrying out an investigation in order to prosecute is a legal process that needs to be complete, it cannot be based on assumptions,” said army spokesman Lerner. “We take this very seriously and that is why we have already opened an investigation within two weeks of reaching a cease-fire.”

The new Palestinian unity government faced a new crisis on Sunday after President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to dissolve his alliance with Hamas if the Islamic militant group does not give up power in the Gaza Strip.

The dispute erupted just over two weeks after Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza ended in a ceasefire. Abbas is looking to regain a foothold in Gaza, which suffered heavy losses during the fighting, and expects to play a leading role in internationally backed reconstruction efforts. His comments, which also included harsh criticism of Hamas’ conduct in the war, appeared to be part of a brewing power struggle over who will control post-war Gaza.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since overrunning Abbas’ forces in 2007. Facing international isolation and a deep financial crisis, the Islamic militant group agreed to the formation of a new unity government with Abbas’ Fatah movement in June, in which it would restore governing power to Abbas in the territory. But it has yet to yield power – even after the devastating war against Israel, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and caused billions of dollars of damage.

“We will not accept having a partnership if their status in Gaza remains this way,” Abbas said late Saturday in Cairo in comments carried by Egypt’s state news agency MENA.

“Unity has terms. This situation does not represent any kind of unity,” Abbas said. “If Hamas does not want one authority, one law, one weapon, we will not accept a partnership with it.” Abbas said that as long as Hamas remains in control of Gaza, he added, “the government of national unity can do nothing on the ground.”

The comments set the stage for what are expected to be difficult negotiations with Hamas in the coming days. With his criticism, Abbas appears to be putting pressure on Hamas to make concessions in the talks.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader, denounced Abbas’ comments, saying they “contradict the spirit of the new partnership and play down the victory of the resistance.”

Under the unity agreement, Abbas formed a Cabinet of apolitical technocrats. Hamas, which is shunned by the international community as a terrorist group, has no formal role, but it has offered its backing from the outside. Israel has boycotted the government, saying Hamas’ involvement is clear, while Western countries are giving the government a chance to prove itself.

Shortly after it was formed, three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank were kidnapped and killed by Hamas members, setting off a chain of events that led to the Gaza war. Hamas, meanwhile, remains in firm control of Gaza, with a depleted, but still significant, arsenal of rockets and thousands of armed fighters.

Abbas heaped fierce criticism of the group’s handling of the war, accusing it of making unrealistic demands for a full lifting of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and dragging out cease-fire talks.

“With every passing day, more blood was shed,” he said, criticizing the heavy death toll and damage. “Is this the victory they talk about? Regrettably, I can only say the results are tragic,” he said.

In the coming weeks, Israel and Hamas are expected to start a new round of indirect, Egyptian-mediated talks for an extended cease-fire. Hamas is demanding a full lifting of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza, including the reopening of a sea and airport. Israel has said the blockade will remain in effect as long as Hamas controls Gaza.

The international community has made clear that all funding and reconstruction efforts be handled through Abbas’ government. Israel, and the West, want guarantees that none of the aid will be diverted for military use by Hamas. A conference of donor nations is expected to take place in October.

Hamas has expressed willingness to turn over control of border crossings with Israel and Egypt to Abbas’ forces. But over the weekend, Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader in Gaza, rejected Israel’s demand that the group be disarmed as a condition for ending the blockade.

In the internal Palestinian negotiations, aides to Abbas say the president will drive a hard bargain against the weakened Hamas, and is seeking full control of Gaza.

Separately Sunday, the father of a Palestinian teenager wounded during a demonstration in Jerusalem last week said his son had died of his wounds.

Abdelmajed Sunokrot says that his 16-year old son Mohammed was shot in the head with a rubber bullet fired by Israeli soldiers and died Sunday in an Israeli hospital. He says his son had been merely passing the demonstration in east Jerusalem when he was injured.

Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld disputed the account, saying that Sunokrot was hit in the leg with a paint-ball type projectile while throwing stones. He said the teen was arrested and taken a hospital to treat his injury.

A spokeswoman at Hadassah Medical Center declined to give a cause of death.

Israel and several Arab countries should work together to rebuild the Gaza Strip while disarming Hamas militants who rule the territory, Israel’s finance minister said Sunday.

The remarks by Yair Lapid come almost a week after Israel and Hamas militants reached a truce after almost two months of fighting that devastated parts of Gaza.

“We need a regional conference, with the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Gulf States,” Lapid, a member of the centrist Yesh Atid party, told reporters in Jerusalem. “That conference should focus on one thing, ensuring the rehabilitation takes place alongside demilitarization,” he said.

Our weapons are used to defend our people, and this right was granted by heaven and human laws

It is unclear how he foresaw the group demilitarizing Gaza as Hamas has vowed it will never give up its weapons. Nor was it clear how responsive Arab countries, some of whom like Saudi Arabia have no formal ties with Israel, would be to such a conference. Lapid did not say if any countries had been consulted about the idea.

“This is a stupid demand, and no one among the Palestinian people would agree to such a thing … our weapons are used to defend our people, and this right was granted by heaven and human laws,” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

Hamas and other Gaza militants fired 4,591 rockets and mortars at Israel during the fighting. Israel’s military says it struck 5,226 “targets” in Gaza. The two sides are set to hold indirect talks in Egypt next month on key disputes that remain unresolved.

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinian men walk on the rubble of their destroyed houses in the Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City on August 31, 2014, following a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile Sunday, Israel announced the expropriation of about 1,000 acres of West Bank land in a step that could help clear the way for construction of a new Jewish settlement.

The Israeli military made the announcement Sunday in accordance with a government edict. It said the directive was made at the end of a military operation in June that searched for three Israeli teens who were abducted and killed by Hamas militants. The Hamas kidnapping and murder of the teens sparked a chain of events that led to the 50-day war.

The expropriated land is in Gush Etzion, an area near Jerusalem where the teens were abducted. Israel hopes to keep the area under any future peace deal with the Palestinians.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the Israeli move and called for the decision to be revoked. He told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that it “leads to deterioration in the situation.”

The Israeli housing ministry said the announcement is just the first step and it will be several years before anything is built there.

The military said opponents have 45 days to appeal Sunday’s decision.

Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors settlements, said it is the biggest “land confiscation” since the 1980s. “The new declaration will allow to expand the settlement even further,” it said.

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians lie on a sofa inside their destroyed house after returning home in the Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City on August 31, 2014.

Earlier Sunday, the Israeli military said a soldier wounded in fighting in the Gaza Strip had succumbed to his wounds, bringing the Israeli military’s death toll in the war to 66.

The military says 20-year-old Sergeant Shachar Shalev was wounded on July 23, six days after Israeli ground forces entered the densely populated coastal strip.

Six civilians were also killed on the Israeli side, including one agricultural worker from Thailand.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, three-quarters of whom were civilians according to the United Nations, were killed during the 50-day war. Israel disputes the figures and says at least half were militants.

The war began after three Israeli teens were killed in the West Bank by Hamas operatives in June, prompting Israel to arrest hundreds of Hamas members there. Rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli cities then escalated and Israel launched a massive air and later ground campaign in retaliation.

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians sit inside their destroyed house after returning home in the Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City on August 31, 2014.

JERUSALEM — An international organization involved in assessing post-conflict reconstruction says it will take 20 years for Gaza’s battered and neglected housing stock to be rebuilt following the war between Hamas and Israel.

The assessment by Shelter Cluster, chaired by the Norwegian Refugee Council with the participation of the U.N. refugee agency and the Red Cross, underscores the complexities involved in an overall reconstruction program for the Gaza Strip, which some Palestinian officials have estimated could cost in excess of $6 billion.

Any effort to rebuild Gaza will be hindered by a blockade imposed by Egypt and Israel since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel has severely restricted the import of concrete and other building materials into Gaza, fearing that militants will use them to build rockets and reinforce cross-border attack tunnels.

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Egypt and Norway have raised the possibility of convening a Gaza donors’ conference at some point next month, but no firm arrangements have been made.

With a population of 1.8 million, Gaza is a densely populated coastal strip of urban warrens and agricultural land that still bears the scars of previous rounds of fighting.

In its report issued late Friday, Shelter Cluster said 17,000 Gaza housing units were destroyed or severely damaged during this summer’s war and 5,000 units still need work after damage sustained in the previous military campaigns. In addition, it says, Gaza has a housing deficit of 75,000 units.

Shelter Cluster said its 20-year assessment is based on the capacity of the main Israel-Gaza cargo crossing to handle 100 trucks of construction materials daily.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government agency responsible for operating the crossing on whether it had future plans to ease restrictions on goods going into Gaza.

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinian residents inspect the remains of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Tuesday.

Israel and Hamas agreed on Tuesday to an open-ended truce. The cease-fire brought an immediate end to the fighting but left key issues unresolved. Hamas immediately declared victory, even though it has very little to show for the war.

While Israel agreed to loosen its long-standing blockade to allow humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials into Gaza, many of the border restrictions will remain in place. Hamas, meanwhile, rejected Israel’s demands that it disarm.

These deeper matters are only to be addressed in indirect talks in Egypt next month.

Mindful of Israel’s concerns about Hamas, Britain, France and Germany have proposed the creation of an international mechanism to monitor goods going into Gaza. The goal of the mechanism would be insure that Hamas and other militant groups would not divert construction materials like iron and cement into weapons or weapons manufacturing facilities.

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinian residents inspect the remains of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Tuesday. Shortly after the strike, the warring sides came to an agreement on a ceasefire, Hamas says.

The latest war began after three Israeli teens were killed in the West Bank by Hamas operatives in June, prompting Israel to arrest hundreds of Hamas members there. Rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli cities then escalated, and Israel launched a massive air and later ground campaign. The fighting lasted almost two months.

Egyptian mediators tried early on to get the sides to agree to a cease-fire. Several temporary truces were broken by Gaza militants.

Over 2,100 Palestinians, most civilians, died in the war. Israel lost 71 people, all but six of them soldiers.

An old Bedouin proverb says, “Me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousin, and me and my cousin against the world.”

In the Gaza conflict, while Egypt and Israel may not be brothers, they are certainly cousins with a joint interest in fighting Hamas, which controls the densely populated Gaza Strip. The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, expected to take hold soon, has reinforced Egypt’s central position in the Arab world as the only country able to negotiate between Israel and Hamas.

It will also likely solidify the position of Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh Al-Sisi, a former army chief, who had little experience in foreign policy before he was elected.

“In terms of security, it is expected that he would be able to function well but he has not been tested when it comes to foreign policy,” said Maye Kessem, a professor of political science at the American University of Cairo. “If he succeeds with the ceasefire, it is good for Egypt and good for the president.”

Egyptians want stability, security, and economic recovery. Mr. Sisi has remained popular despite harsh crackdowns on the Muslim Brotherhood and his predecessor, Mohammed Morsi. Hamas, which is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, has also been a target for Mr. Sisi and the government-controlled media.

Any long-term solution for the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza will have to involve both Egypt and Israel.

During the ceasefire negotiations, Mr. Sisi adopted Israel’s position there can be no preconditions to the truce — both Israel and Hamas must stop firing, then negotiations can begin on Hamas demands. Egypt became the mediator because Israel refused to meet directly with a Palestinian delegation that includes members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization.

As the largest Arab country with a population of 87 million, Egypt has always been important in the Middle East. It is also one of only two nations — with Jordan — that have peace treaties with Israel; and Egyptian and Israeli intelligence have long maintained close ties. During the last Israel-Hamas conflict in 2012, Mr. Morsi helped orchestrate a ceasefire.

“The Gaza crisis provides Sisi with an opportunity to resurrect Egypt’s regional role,” said Lina Al-Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “But because of his crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, Sisi does not have a lot of influence on Hamas, which jeopardizes Egypt’s prospects for success.”

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty ImagesA Hamas militant brandishes his weapon as he fires rounds into the air after joining hundreds of Gazans gathered at an intersecition in Gaza City on August 26, 2014 to celebrate a ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas.

Although Egyptian media have been virulently anti-Hamas during this conflict, Mr. Sisi runs the risk of being perceived as “pro-Israel.”

“If you read the Arab press, many of the commentators do not like it but they don’t dare to say he is pro-Israel,” said Tzvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt.

“The Arab world is in a difficult position. People are more afraid of the [Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, ISIS] than anything else.”

Ms. Kassem agrees few people see the Egyptian president as pro-Israel, but rather as “anti-Hamas, which much of the population supports.”

Mr. Sisi is committed to focusing on the economic development of Egypt and fighting terrorism in Sinai, Mr. Mazel said. That is also a goal for Israel and the two nations have been co-operating on security.

Some analysts believe with the end of the Gaza war and the growth of ISIS there are new opportunities for a moderate coalition in the region. This could bring together Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, with the quiet backing of Israel.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty ImagesA man holds a Hamas flag as Palestinians celebrate in the streets in East Jerusalem the long-term truce agreed between Israel and the Palestinians on August 26, 2014.

In that sense, strengthening Egypt is in the interest of both the United States and Israel.

As part of the aftermath of the Gaza war, the international community will have to help in rebuilding Gaza. Any permanent solution for the reopening of the coastal enclave to the outside world must include Egypt, which controls the Rafah crossing.

Opening Rafah is a key Hamas demand. Israel does not oppose it, but wants to make sure weapons cannot enter the Gaza Strip. One possibility is to have Palestinian police loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stationed at the crossing, or to have it supervised by international troops.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas agreed Tuesday to an open-ended ceasefire after seven weeks of fighting — an uneasy deal that halts the deadliest war the sides have fought in years, with more than 2,200 killed, but puts off the most difficult issues. Hamas has promised to rebuilt and rearm.

In the end, both sides settled for an ambiguous interim agreement in exchange for a period of calm. Hamas, though badly battered, remains in control of Gaza with part of its military arsenal intact. Israel and Egypt will continue to control access to blockaded Gaza, despite Hamas’ long-running demand that the border closures imposed in 2007 be lifted.

Hamas declared victory, even though it had little to show for a war that killed 2,143 Palestinians, wounded more than 11,000 and left some 100,000 homeless. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and five civilians were killed, the last a man killed by Palestinian mortar fire shortly before the ceasefire was announced.

Large crowds gathered in Gaza City after the truce took effect at dusk, some waving the green flags of Hamas, while celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted across the territory.

Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, promised to rebuild homes destroyed in the war and said Hamas would rearm. “We will build and upgrade our arsenal to be ready for the coming battle, the battle of full liberation,” he declared, surrounded by Hamas gunmen.

The Israeli response was more subdued.

“This time we hope the ceasefire will stick,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. He portrayed the deal as one Hamas had rejected in previous rounds of negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced some criticism from hard-line critics and residents of Israeli communities near Gaza who said the deal failed to defuse the threat from Gaza militants. Since July 8, Hamas and its allies have fired some 4,000 rockets and mortars at Israel, and tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated areas near Gaza in recent weeks.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty ImagesA Palestinian waves a national and a Hamas flag as fireworks light up the sky on August 26, 2014 in East Jerusalem as Palestinians celebrate in the streets the long-term truce agreed between Israel and the Palestinians.

Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, Israel is to ease imports to Gaza, including aid and material for reconstruction. It also agreed to a largely symbolic gesture, expanding a fishing zone for Gaza fishermen from three to six nautical miles into the Mediterranean.

In a month, talks are to begin on more complex issues, including Hamas’ demand to start building a seaport and airport in Gaza. Israel has said it would only agree if Hamas disarms, a demand the militant group has rejected.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the agreement offers “an opportunity, not a certainty.”

“Today’s agreement comes after many hours and days of negotiations and discussions. But certainly there’s a long road ahead. … We’re going into this eyes wide open,” she said. Early on in the war, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had tried in vain to broker a truce.

The ceasefire went into effect at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) Tuesday, and violence persisted until the last minute.

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty ImagesAn Israeli man amidst the debris left by a Hamas rocket after it landed in the courtyard of a kindergarten in the southern costal city of Ashdod on Tuesday.

About an hour before the ceasefire, 12 mortar shells hit an Israeli communal farm near Gaza, killing an Israeli man and wounding seven other people, two of them critically, the Israeli military said. Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Gaza militants fired 83 rockets, of which 13 were intercepted.

In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike minutes before the start of the ceasefire toppled a five-story building in the town of Beit Lahiya, witnesses said. Twelve Palestinians, including two children, were killed in several Israeli airstrikes before the truce took hold, Gaza police said.

In Gaza City, a 20-year-old woman was killed and several dozen people were wounded by celebratory gunfire after the truce was announced.

Throughout the war, Israel launched some 5,000 airstrikes against Gaza, saying it targeted sites linked to militants, including rocket launchers and weapons depots. About three-fourths of those killed in the strikes have been civilians, according to the U.N. and Palestinian officials.

AP Photo/Adel HanaSmoke and dust rise after an Israeli strike hits in Gaza City Tuesday.

In recent days, Israel had stepped up its pressure on Hamas, toppling five towers containing offices, apartments and shops since Saturday. Two of those buildings were brought down in airstrikes early Tuesday that destroyed dozens of apartments and shops.

Hamas has emerged from the war badly battered. Just one-third of its initial rocket arsenal of 10,000 remains, according to Israel and the Islamic group’s network of attack tunnels under the border with Israel has been mostly destroyed.

Despite its victory celebrations Tuesday, Hamas failed to force an end to the Gaza blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militants seized the seaside strip in 2007.

DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty ImagesIsraeli boys run for cover Sunday as sirens sound in the coastal city of Ashkelon, 13 kilometres from the Gaza border.

Under the restrictions, virtually all of Gaza’s 1.8 million people cannot trade or travel. Only a few thousand are able to leave the coastal territory every month.

The ceasefire deal makes no mention of ending the ban on exports from Gaza or significantly easing travel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a long-time rival of Hamas, will likely play a key role in any new border deal for Gaza. Abbas, who lost Gaza to Hamas in 2007, is expected to regain a foothold there under any Egyptian-brokered agreement.

Forces loyal to Abbas would be posted at Gaza’s crossings to allay fears by Israel and Egypt about renewed attempts by Hamas to smuggle weapons into the territory. Israel is also concerned that material for reconstruction would be diverted by Hamas for military purposes.

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In a televised address Tuesday evening, Abbas said the end of the war underscored the need to find a permanent solution to the conflict with Israel.

“What’s next? Gaza has been subjected to three wars. Shall we expect another war in a year or two? Until when will this issue be without a solution?” he said.

Aides have said Abbas plans to ask the U.N. Security Council to demand Israel’s withdrawal from all lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war to make way for an independent Palestinian state.

Abbas alluded to the plan in his speech.

“Today I’m going to give the Palestinian leadership my vision for a solution and after that we will continue consultations with the international community,” he said. “This vision must be clear and well-defined and we are not going to an open-ended negotiation.”

Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb in Cairo, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.

GAZA, Gaza Strip — Israel bombed two Gaza City high-rises with dozens of homes and shops Tuesday, collapsing one building and severely damaging the other in a further escalation of seven weeks of cross-border fighting with Hamas.

In the past, the military has hit targets in high-rises in pinpoint strikes, but left the buildings standing. However, since Saturday, it has toppled or destroyed five towers and shopping complexes in an apparent new tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas.

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The objects of the latest strikes contain apartments inhabited almost exclusively by middle-class Gazans, who up until now have been largely spared the considerable dislocation that has affected tens of thousands of other residents in densely populated neighbourhoods of the coastal strip, like Shijaiyah.

That has raised the possibility that the Israeli military is trying to use better-off Gazans, like professionals and Palestinian authority employees, to put pressure on Hamas to end the fighting on Israel’s terms.

Tuesday’s strikes levelled the 15-storey Basha Tower with apartments and offices and severely damaged the Italian Complex, built in the 1990s by an Italian businessman, with dozens of shops and offices.

Both buildings were evacuated after receiving warnings of impending strikes. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 25 people were wounded in the attack on the Italian Complex.

One resident of the Italian Complex, 38-year-old engineer Nael Mousa, said that he, his four children and 70-year-old mother had managed to flee the building late Monday night after a guard had alerted them of an impending strike, and that he was in his car some 300 metres away when it was bombed by an Israeli F-16 fighter jet.

Within two hours, he said, it had been levelled by at least five additional bombs.

“I have become homeless, my children’s fear will never be soothed, and something new has now been added to our feelings toward Israel and all the world, which has been looking on without doing anything,” he said.

The Israeli military said it targeted sites linked to militants Tuesday, but made no specific reference to the two buildings. Israel alleges Hamas often operates from civilian locations. The military has not said why it has begun collapsing large buildings, rather than carrying out pinpointed strikes against suspected militant targets located there.

In an email message to The Associated Press, military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the strikes were “a direct result to Hamas’ decision to situate their terrorist infrastructure within the civilian sphere including schools, hospitals and high-rise buildings.”

AFP PHOTO/ROBERTO SCHMIDTPalestinian children sit on a sidewalk as they wait for their parents to retrieve some of their family's belongings from a partially destroyed house across the street from a high rise apartment building in Gaza City (R) that was targeted by Israeli airstrikes overnight on August 26, 2014.

He said Israel will not “enable Hamas to continue to kill Israelis, target our towns and cities and expect to operate without consequence to their facilities, militant operatives and the leadership of their heinous attacks against Israel.”

Political scientist Mkhaimar Abu Sada from Gaza’s Al Azhar University said he believed the Israeli tactic was a deliberate attempt to pressure Hamas by targeting middle class structures in neighbourhoods like Rimal and Tel al-Hawa, which have so far been spared the worst of the fighting.

He said the tactic will end up creating even greater antipathy toward Israel, but might also result in some tough questions being asked about Hamas’ conduct of the war.

“Some people will now be wondering why Hamas did not accept a cease-fire proposal during the first week of the fighting, when the damage here was still relatively small,” he said.

Retired Israeli air force brigadier general Shlomo Brom, now a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said he was doubtful that the high-rise structures had been targeted solely because of their middle-class makeups.

“I have no doubt that these buildings were hit primarily because they contained offices or other facilities that belonged to Hamas,” he said.

AP Photo/Khalil HamraPalestinians have a coffee next to the rubble of the 15-storey Basha Tower that collapsed from early morning Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014.

Also on Tuesday, two people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Gaza City, police said, and the Red Crescent reported that two others died and three were wounded when Israeli tanks opened fire on Shijaiyah, east of Gaza City.

Israel’s military said it carried out 15 air strikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

It said eight rockets were launched from the coastal strip at Israeli territory, including one that caused extensive damage to a home in the southern city of Ashkelon and lightly injured more than a dozen people there.
The latest strikes came as Egypt urged Israel and Hamas to resume indirect talks on a permanent cease-fire, based on an Egyptian proposal for a new border deal for blockaded Gaza.

The Egyptian offer calls for a gradual easing of restrictions on trade and movement in and out of Gaza and would give Hamas’ Palestinian rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, a foothold in the strip.

AFP PHOTO/ROBERTO SCHMIDT A Palestinian woman takes some of their belongings from her partially destroyed home across the street from where a high rise apartment building in Gaza City was targeted by Israeli air strikes overnight on August 26, 2014.

Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007, triggering the blockade that has been enforced to varying degrees since then.

Israel and Hamas have not responded to Egypt’s latest call.

Gaza’s war has so far killed at least 2,133 Palestinians and wounded more than 11,000, according to Palestinian health officials and the United Nations. The U.N. estimates more than 17,000 homes have been destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless.

On the Israeli side, 68 people have been killed, all but four of them soldiers.

When an Israeli missile destroyed a car in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, bags of American money split open and sent charred U.S. dollars fluttering in the street, a witness reported.

Israel identified the man killed inside the car as Muhammad Al-Ghoul, who the Israeli military says is responsible for handling Hamas “terror funds” and financial transactions, the New York Times reported.

After the missile attack, plainclothes security personnel were on scene collecting the scattered money, a witness told the Times .

The airstrike came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the war in Gaza could persist “even after the start of the school year” in September.

Fighting between Israel and Gaza militants raged on Monday despite claims of new cease-fire efforts as hundreds of Israelis living in communities near the coastal strip were fleeing their homes following a deadly mortar attack over the weekend.

The Israeli Defence Ministry said it is helping anxious Israelis leave homes close to the war zone in what is effectively the government’s first large-scale voluntary evacuation effort in the nearly eight weeks of fighting.

There has so far been no end in sight to the war, which has already killed more than 2,100 Palestinians since the fighting erupted on July 8. On the Israeli side, 68 people have been killed, all but four of them soldiers. At least seven Palestinians were reported killed in new airstrikes Monday, and at least 60 rockets were fired from Gaza onto Israel.

The latest escalation in the conflict erupted last week after a six-day temporary truce collapsed. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said there were new efforts underway Monday to reach an extended cease-fire agreement, but neither side seemed to be easing its attacks.

While the Israeli public has widely supported Israel’s campaign to halt rocket attacks out of Gaza, the government has come under criticism for its inability to stop the fire and anger has risen, especially following the death of a 4-year-old boy who was killed Friday when a Palestinian mortar landed in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza border.

0_3q9wcritPalestinians gather while firefighters try to extinguish fire in the wreckage of a vehicle following an Israeli airstrike near Palestine stadium in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Mohammed al-Ghoul, 26, was killed and several were wounded in the airstrike.

Israel’s air raid sirens and rocket-defence system are ill equipped to deal with mortar fire, which is fired from short ranges, giving little time for people to scramble for cover.

“It looks like we will not return to Nahal Oz, no way,” Gila Tragerman, the mother of the Israeli boy killed in the mortar attack, told Army Radio on Monday.

Livnat Ginzbourg, a spokeswoman for Israeli communities along the Gaza border, said some 100 families were leaving their homes on Monday, following a similar number the previous day.

It is another major exodus of residents during the fighting. Many people fled last month after the discovery of Hamas tunnels that had been burrowed into Israel. Residents were encouraged to return home after Israel said it destroyed the tunnels and a preliminary truce was reached.

Ginzbourg said some families had stayed in Israeli government-funded accommodations during the recent war, but Monday’s evacuation was the first time the government was co-ordinating and financing temporary accommodation for all families wishing to flee. She estimated that 70 to 80 per cent of residents in communities closest to the Gaza border have fled, mostly families with young children.

Defence Ministry spokesman Jonathan Mosery said it was not a mandatory evacuation, but the government was assisting Israelis who live up to five kilometres from the Gaza border, paying for them to stay at youth hostels and other accommodations in areas farther away.

The need to uproot families yet again, just days before the start of the school year, has led to widespread exasperation.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli residents of the Gaza border area, saying the government would “do our utmost to help you through these difficult days” and promising an “extraordinary package of assistance for your communities.”

The Israeli military said it carried out at least 16 airstrikes on Gaza early Monday, targeting a mosque it said was used to store weapons and another it said militants used as a meeting point.

The military also said that Palestinian militants from the densely populated strip fired at least 60 rockets into Israel on Monday. Three rockets were intercepted midair and the others landed in open areas.

Palestinian health officials said seven people were killed, including a 42-year woman who was killed by tank fire in northern Gaza.

In the West Bank Monday, hospital officials and relatives said 14-year-old Hassan Ashour died from his wounds after being shot Friday near the West Bank city of Nablus by Israeli troops clashing with rock-throwing demonstrators protesting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Israeli air strikes levelled a seven-floor office building and severely damaged a two-story shopping centre in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, signalling a new escalation in seven weeks of fighting with Hamas.

The strikes in the southern town of Rafah came just hours after Israel bombed a residential tower in Gaza City, collapsing the 12-story building with 44 apartments.

A total of eight people were killed in Sunday’s air strikes. Israel said one of the dead was a Hamas official involved in handling the group’s finances.

The targeting of large buildings appears to be part of a new tactic by Israel. Over the weekend, the army began warning Gaza residents in automated phone calls that it would target buildings harbouring “terrorist infrastructure” and that they should stay away.

A senior military official confirmed that Israel has a policy of striking at buildings containing Hamas operational centres or those from which military activities are launched. The official said each strike required prior approval from military lawyers and is carried out only after the local population is warned.

However, he said, there was now a widening of locations that the military can target. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss the matter with reporters.

“I call on the people of Gaza to immediately evacuate any structure that Hamas is using to commit acts of terror,” he said. “Every one of these structures is a target for us.”

AP Photo/Adel HanaA Palestinian takes cover as part of a three-story building belonging to the Abdul Hadi family collapses after an Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014.

In the 12-story apartment tower, the target was a fourth-floor apartment where Hamas ran an operations centre, according to Israeli media. In the past, Israel has carried out pinpoint strikes, targeting apartments in high-rises with missiles, while leaving the buildings standing.

The military declined immediate comment when asked why it collapsed the entire building instead of striking a specific apartment.

Meanwhile, Gaza militants continued to fire rockets and mortar shells at Israel, including at least 10 on Sunday, one of which wounded three people on the Israeli side of the main Gaza crossing, the military said.

Israel’s Defence Ministry said the three wounded were civilian drivers waiting to transport wounded Gazans who had been brought into Israel for treatment in hospitals. The Erez crossing is used by journalists, aid workers and Palestinians with Israeli permits to enter or leave Gaza.

In southern Israel, hundreds of people attended the funeral of 4-year-old Daniel Tragerman, who was killed Friday in a mortar attack. The mourners included Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin.

Elsewhere, five rockets were fired from Syria and fell in open areas in northern Israel. It was not immediately clear whether they were fired by pro-government forces or rebel groups.

Amid persistent violence, Egypt has urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume indirect talks in Cairo on a durable cease-fire, but stopped short of issuing invitations.

Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have collapsed, along with temporary cease-fires that accompanied them. The gaps between Israel and the Islamic militant group on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza remain vast, and there’s no sign either is willing to budge.

The Israeli military said it had carried out some 20 strikes on Gaza since midnight Saturday. Gaza police and medical officials reported eight fatalities.

The seven-story Zourab building bombed by Israeli aircraft early Sunday housed an office of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Witnesses said the building in Rafah was levelled and that the strikes caused severe damage to nearby shops, homes and cars. It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded or killed.

AP Photo/Oren ZivRelatives of four-year-old Israeli boy Daniel Tragerman cries over his coffin during his funeral in a cemetery located next to the Israeli community of Yevul, near the Israeli Gaza border, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014.

Another strike hit a nearby shopping centre with dozens of shops, sparking a fire that gutted the two-story building and wounding seven people. After daybreak Sunday, smoke was still rising from the site as shop owners inspected the damage. Windows and doors had been blown out in nearby buildings.

The military said the two buildings were attacked because they housed facilities linked to militants, but did not provide details. Twenty-two people were wounded in Saturday’s strike on the tower in Gaza City.

Palestinian health official Ashraf Al-Kidra, who confirmed the casualty figures for the strikes, said two people were killed in a pair of air strikes near a coastal road on Sunday, including one on a group of people coming out of a mosque after morning prayers.

Two more fatalities were registered when a motorcycle following a car evacuating the wounded from the strikes was targeted, he said.

AP Photo/Khalil HamraPalestinians gather near the Al-Zafer apartment tower following Israeli airstrikes Saturday that collapsed the 12-story building, in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. The army said the Gaza City apartment tower was targeted because a Hamas command center operated from there.

Another man was killed in an air strike on a car, and an 18-month-old infant and a 17-year-old were killed in an air strike on an apartment building in Gaza City. Three people were killed in an air strike on a house in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, police said.

Palestinians identified the man traveling in the car as Mohammed al-Ghoul. Israel said al-Ghoul was responsible for Hamas’ financial transfers for “terror funds.” It did not elaborate, and the claim could not immediately be verified.

The U.N. estimates that more than 17,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair since the war began on July 8. In some of the attacks, family homes with three or four floors were pulverized.

AP Photo/Adel HanaSmoke and dust rise after an Israeli strike on a three-story building belonging to the Abdul Hadi family in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014.

However, the weekend strikes marked the first time large buildings were toppled.

Since the fighting began, Israel has launched some 5,000 air strikes at Gaza, while Gaza militants have fired close to 4,000 rockets and mortars, according to the Israeli military.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, including close to 500 children, have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials and U.N. figures. Israel has lost 64 soldiers and four civilians.

Israel says it is targeting sites linked to militants, including rocket launchers, command centres and weapons depots. The U.N. says about three-fourths of the Palestinians killed have been civilians.

With the war showing no signs of winding down, educational officials in Gaza said they were delaying the start of both U.N. and government-run schools. Classes in both were supposed to begin Sunday.

The U.N. said it would begin a gradual back to school program this week “to help students and teachers start to transition into a new school year.”

The nearly two-month Gaza war stems from the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank by Hamas operatives in June, which triggered a massive Israeli arrest campaign in the West Bank, followed by an increase in rocket fire from Gaza.

AP Photo/Adel HanaA Palestinian flees after an Israeli strike hits a three-story building belonging to the Abdul Hadi family in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014.

AP Photo/Adel HanaPalestinian relatives salvage belongings from the rubble of a three-story building belonging to the Abdul Hadi family damaged after an Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014.

AP Photo/Adel HanaA Palestinian takes cover as part of a three-story building belonging to the Abdul Hadi family collapses after an Israeli strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014.

AP Photo/Khalil HamraPalestinians inspect the rubble of the Al-Zafer apartment tower following Israeli airstrikes Saturday that collapsed the 12-story building, in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. The Israeli army said the Gaza City apartment tower was targeted because a Hamas command center operated from there. The weekend strikes by Israel marked the first time large buildings were toppled signaling a new escalation in seven weeks of fighting with Hamas.